(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Â Qatar Exchange (QE), in collaboration with HSBC, hosted a two-day forum in London to attract investments to Qatari listed companies.
The forum was designed to complement the companies' ongoing investor relations activities through providing an opportunity for the senior management of listed companies to meet key decision makers from a number of the world's largest international fund managers. The fact that portfolio investors continue to view Qatar as an exciting investment opportunity was evident from the enthusiastic response to the forum, the QE's top officials said here yesterday.
With eight listed companies, representing more than half of the QE market capitalization, the Qatari companies that took part in the Forum were: Qatar National Bank, Doha Bank, Ooredoo, Commercial Bank of Qatar, Industries Qatar, Al Khaliji Commercial Bank, Qatar Electricity & Water, and Masraf Al Rayyan.
Over the two days through a combination of one-to-one and group meetings the listed companies met with over fifty fund managers representing thirty five major institutions. Those institutions represented the most important funds allocating money to Qatar and the GCC; in the entire event hosted over eighty meetings."
Abdul Aziz Al Emadi, Listing Director at Qatar Exchange, described the event as an ideal opportunity for a detailed two-way dialogue between investors and companies in a focused one-on-one environment. "We are all very aware that IR is a key component of a listed companies' communication strategy in today's competitive market for capital. At a time when retail and institutional investors, both in Qatar and internationally, are focused on achieving growth in a low interest rate environment educating the investor base as to the merits of a companies' investment story is becoming increasingly important. We expect our listed companies will benefit from the opportunity to better inform the market about their corporate strategy. For fund managers the benefit is unrivalled access to the decision makers who are driving the growth of some of Qatar's largest companies and contributing in a significant way to Qatar's growth," he said.
Al Emadi added: "Qatar Exchange has been actively working with our listed companies for a number of years in the area of IR so this is not a new initiative; it is however a further development of our focus in this area. Investor relations can come in many guises, for example, meetings with investors such as these today, but also company news-releases, annual reports and websites, Also there are a good number of listed companies who have started to arrange a frequent conference calls with investors and analysts and it noticeable that this exercise becoming an effective element for the companies to communicate with the investors.
However, each method is designed to inform stakeholders about the company, so that they can gain a better understanding of the company's business, its policies toward governance, financial performance and above all future prospects".
QE is committed to the process of transparency and improving the standards of information in the market because investors' needs and demands are increasing. Our listed companies are investing time and resource in ensuring they are meeting those changing needs in part by being here today, he said.
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